There is a teacher shortage in Plymouth as schools become the latest employers hit by a lack of workers.
Education recruitment specialists The Supply Register is interviewing candidates in Plymouth in a bid to fill vacancies for teachers and teaching assistants across the city.
And it is not the only business seeking staff, as vacancies are continuing in sectors such as hospitality, construction, and care, including in the NHS.
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The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) said that at least one employer and sometimes as many as three are interviewing candidates at one of the city’s three Jobcentres on a daily basis .
Among them is health and social care giant Livewell Southwest, and other smaller care agencies, construction firms, including those involved in the huge Sherford new town project, and hospitality companies.
Security firm TSS has offered seven jobs as retail security guards, following recent interviews, and rugby club Plymouth Albion also have vacancies having recently recruited to its hospitality department.
Beverly Phillips, a DWO disability employment advisor based at Devonport Jobcentre , said mobile network and internet provider EE is on the hunt for call centre staff and added: “They are paying £20,000 full-time with loads of bonuses and half price on EE goods. They are doing interviews in Devonport.”
And she added: “The Supply Register is also doing interviews. It is looking for teachers and teaching assistants for multiple schools in Plymouth.”
She said the national hospital bank organisation NHS Professionals will also be interviewing candidates for admin roles within the NHS during March. Jobcentre Plus will also run a week-long sector based work academy for the construction industry as it looks to find workers for the Sherford housing scheme.
“The jobs are out there,” Ms Phillips said. “And people are turning up for interviews.”
Nationally, job vacancies have hit a new high, up 105,000 quarter-on-quarter to 1.3million as firms scrambled to secure staff amid a recovering wider economy. ONS chief economist Grant Fitzner said: “We have seen yet another record number of job vacancies and, with the redundancy rate falling to a new record low, demand for workers remains strong.”
Suren Thiru, head of economics at British Chambers of Commerce, said: “Record vacancies highlights chronic imbalances in the UK labour market with demand for workers outpacing supply. With rising economic inactivity indicating a deep-seated decline in worker participation, particularly among older people, recruitment difficulties may persistently drag on economic output.”
Jack Kennedy, UK economist at the global job site Indeed, said: ““Recruitment challenges continue to bite for many employers, with the number of job vacancies hitting yet another record high, though the rate of growth is slowing. Jobseekers still hold all the power, and faced with rising inflation, many will choose to vote for their feet and seek work elsewhere.”
Latest statistics reveal that there are 7,049 people claiming benefits in Plymouth, but this figure is down by 3,150 on the same time last year, a fall of 33%.
Across the South West, stretching from Cornwall to Dorset and Wiltshire, there are 108,397 claimants, but this figure is also down by 47%, that’s 14,658 people, on a year earlier, when the Covid pandemic was raging.
Ms Phillips said those who are looking for work are being snapped up by employers and there are no schemes to help people who may have issues preventing them taking a job.
She said that in Plymouth, Seetec Pluss is working with people with autism and Active Argyle, a sports programme for youngsters, is helping individuals with fitness issues.
But she said there are still some people for whom the pandemic has left them with fears about leaving their homes.
“They may have anxiety, and that has increased,” she said. “They may not want to go outside, so it is about getting them into the right mindset.”
Nationally the number of jobless people has dropped below levels seen before the pandemic struck for the first time, latest figures show - but earnings continue to fall behind inflation.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said there were 1.34million unemployed in the quarter to January, down 88,000 on the previous three months and below the 1.36million recorded in December to February 2020. But the figures revealed the tightening squeeze of the cost-of-living crisis, as regular pay failed to keep up with soaring inflation, with average weekly earnings excluding bonuses up 3.8% between November and January.
When taking rising prices into account, as measured by Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation, wages fell by 1.6% compared with a year earlier, according to the ONS. Experts have warned the pressure on household finances will intensify due to the Ukraine conflict, with gas and fuel prices set to see inflation rise from 5.5% currently to nearly 9% or more in April. The ONS figures showed the unemployment rate falling back once again, to a lower-than-expected 3.9% in the most recent quarter, down from 4.1% in the three months to December.
It came as the number of workers on payrolls jumped by 275,000 between January and February to a fresh record of 29.7million, with the ONS saying demand for workers “remains strong”. But a shrinking labour market, due mostly to older workers choosing to retire early throughout the pandemic, has also seen the number of employed Britons drop 12,000 to 32.5million in the most recent quarter.
